Instructional videos (reviews)

[heavyles99]

Originally posted by ledzep686 Same here, anyone???

 

 

 

At $175 for the set it will be awhile before I can afford this. Would love to spend time with it though.

[ECFan]

How about a sticky!!!

[BlueMach1]

Who has used Doug Marks "Metal Method"? It has been around for a while. Does it stand the test of time? (of course assuming it was any good to begin with)

Metal Method

Thanks -

[Forbidden]

Jerry Donahue : Country Tech 2 Stars.

 

Great player as I'm sure most of you know but it's focused at the fans of his playing techniques and nothing else. It's a good watch and he explains things rather well on how he uses his techniques but it really is for the fans plus it's a rather short video.

[DaveF]

I've got Jimmy Bruno's "no nonsense jazz guitar".

I'd been learning a lot of chords on my own, but struggling with the single note soloing stuff ... this video helped a lot.

It's well done, and you get to see Bruno BURN through some tunes. That dude is FAST.

[bronco]

How refreshing to have a video out there by a world class player that really speaks to advanced players.

This vid is so packed with musical meat you could make a study of it for a year or more. It is the first video I've yet seen that only speaks of technique only when it is involved in note choices. It dwells almost 100% on Music and note choices, especially for single note line development.

I myself am NOT an advanced player, but I could understand what he was talking about and his ideas. It was VERY technical.

Things that I got out of it included:

Don't think about "which scale over which chord", think about intervals and the sounds they make. Its faster, and more intuitive. You need to know what notes are available so you can communicate them to other players, but its much more important to know how the intervals sound so that you develop a pallette of sounds.

Play solos using only Half Notes (for a standard 4/4 jazz progression, for example). In this way your note choices better be real good. Then try with only quarter notes. Don't "hide" poor choices by playing lots of "so-so" blahsay notes.

Play Rubato chord progressions and practice lines over them.

Mr. Abercrombie is a man who has given 100% of his human intellect and energy toward the guitar. It shows. The examples and duets he improvised with his assistant guitarist had some of the most complex and delightful jazz harmonies I've yet heard, and he explains how he comes up with it all.

You better know SOMETHING about music theory before watching this one. And I've got a very long way to go!

Mike

[henryb]

Has anyone seen / used the following Guitar Method DVD's by Curt Mitchell:

"Guitar Method in the Style of Van Halen"

There appears to be 2 different versions of this DVD, one listed as having "50 Hottest Licks" and the other is a Digital Remaster, maybe they are the same material?

Thanks,
Brent.

[guitguy26]

I have a Curt Mitchell "In The Style of Van Halen" on VHS. There might be more than one "Van Halen" video by him, but I'm not sure. I got a few different Curt Mitchell tapes but they typically just show a collection of popular riffs, played fast and then slow, with no explanation as to the theory or context behing them, as well as maybe a few scales that are used.
He also goes into a brief discussion about the type of equipment EVH used, showing how to get that kind of sound on the equipment he uses.
Overall there's not too much in these videos, I've found. Not a whole lot of useful discussion about "style", and they tend to have some sloppy edits in them. They're cheaper than the typical guitar video but you get what you pay for.
I don't know if these vids have gotten any better though lately. I bought a few back in mid 1990s, they were usually part new stuff (at the time) mixed with old footage from when he did a few videos back in the late 80s. The tab was decent, nothing special. In the earlier videos you had to write out your own tab.
The quality of the presentation also seems to depend on how much Curt likes the artist (he was quite knowledgable about guys like Van Halen and Randy Rhoads), but he actually plays a few later-era VH riffs out of rhythm, like he maybe listened to the track once or something.

[henryb]

Thanks for the feedback on the Curt Mitchell EVH video's. Sounds like they would be merely OK, but not great!

Do you know of any EVH instructional video's that are better or ones that you would recommend?

[guitguy26]

Just to clarify, I watched the Van Halen instructional video again, and on the box it says "More Van Halen" and "50 Hottest Licks", so it must be the second one in the series. I don't know what the first video would have but the format of his videos is all the same, shows a few scales, brief gear explanation for how to get that sound, then a bunch of riffs played fast then slow.
The video I have is, honestly, kind of a waste. Curt spends a lot of time talking about his rack set-up in one part of the video, and it really has nothing to do with the lesson!
What Curt should do is produce, maybe, a "deluxe" edition of the video, talking more about scale choice and style. Oh well.
I've never seen any other videos about Van Halen, but there's not a lot of decent music stores around where I live.
The best way to learn VH stuff, would be to check out the tab books for the albums. Specific techniques he'd done, sometimes I've seen short articles about them in magazines. If there's something specific you can't figure out, might as well ask the people on the forums about it...

[henryb]

Thanks again for the great feedback.

I have found that the best learning tool I have ever used is a product from Line6... called the "GuitarPort". It is a device that connects to your pc and runs amp and effect simulations. But what is really cool, is the GuitarPort Online facility. It offers lessons, play-along tracks, riffs, matching tones, etc. The player will display the tabs for the section of the song that you are working on and switch to the next section of tabs when the play-back of the song gets there. You can also loop on a section while you learn it. It also as a half-speed mode, to learn those lightning fast solo's. As well, the simulations switch to whatever matches the tones used in the songs... so it sounds like you have the sound/tone nailed in every section of the song!!!

No word of a lie, it is the best learning tool on the planet.

The down side is that although they have thousands of songs, they may not have every song that you want to learn available as a full lesson/track. For example they only have 4 songs for EVH. I am looking for more!!! Thus I'm interested in the videos!

Thanks again,
Brent.

[telesan]

I also purchased David Bodhi's "Totally Grasp Harmony" dvd from ebay. Well worth $30 (incl shipping). It runs a little under 4 hours in length on 2 dvds. It uses both standard notation and guitar neck tab. David says that it will take a motivated student over a year to work through the exercises...and I believe him.

I wish that I would have had this DVD and the Fretboard Logic Vols. 1&2 texts when I started playing, badly, while in high school back in '79! Back then all that I had were texts by Fredrick Noad and Mickey Baker and, of course, GP magazine.

Mr. Bodhi is very laid back and presents material in an easy to understand way. He plays an acoustic guitar and even includes a bluesy little number that he wrote as a study piece (you don't have to pay royalties to oneself I guess). The DVD is well suited for the average rock or blues player who wants to grow musically.

Btw...he is a MUCH better teacher than my old college instructor who had a M.A. in Jazz Comp from N.TX.State!

Don't be put off by purchasing a DVD from ebay as it arrived 3 days after I purchased it. Of course the P.O. had smashed the plastic jewled dvd case but the dvds were fine. O' and there are even downloadable pdf files on the dvds! What a bargin for thirty bucks!!!

[Bostekrisco]

Anyone familar with these DVDs? I came across this guy searching EBAY for the Robin Trower tab book. He covers a lot of stuff I'd like to learn.

http://stores.ebay.com/AJ-Multimedia_W0QQsspagenameZl2QQtZkm

TIA for any insights you can give me.

Bob

[Santuzzo]

Originally posted by DaveF I've got Jimmy Bruno's "no nonsense jazz guitar". I'd been learning a lot of chords on my own, but struggling with the single note soloing stuff ... this video helped a lot. It's well done, and you get to see Bruno BURN through some tunes. That dude is FAST.

 

 

Is it the video where he plays "I'll remember April" in the Intro ?

 

Yeah, he really plays absolutely GREAT !!!!

[telesan]

Bostekrisco,

I bought his Robin Trower "Bridge of Sighs" instructional dvd and it is pretty good for 12.99+ shipping. It is self produced and he shows you how to play each song. As a matter of fact he correted an error I was making...corect tonal key but wrong positions. I popped in my RT cd and listed several times to the passage in question- the dvd instructor was right.

There are no fancy graphics just instruction and a fretboard closeup. Later I'm going to buy the SRV and the Jimi James dvds.

Hoped this helped! Btw his shipping was fast...3 days from Il(???) to TX.

[Bostekrisco]

Telesan:

Thanks for the reply. I found and ordered what he calls a "Sandwich Sampler" at his ebay store. It's essentially one song from about 8 different DVD's that he has available. I have to say I really like it for the $15 delivered it cost me. For the cost of one guitar lesson, this guy is showing me exactly how to play several songs I really like. I'm relatively new to guitar and spending a lot of time on the "wax on, wax off" stuff, learning scales and chords, exercises to get both my hands on the same page, etc. It's a nice reward to be able to learn an actual song and make music ( he said loosely), rather than play scales over and over and over.

As you said, the production is a little rough, but it's pretty much what my guitar teacher would do if I chose to use my lessons to learn songs. And it would take dozens and dozens of $15 lessons to do the same thing.

As an aside, when I first got the DVD and put it in I was getting video but no audio. Thinking the disk was bad I emailed him. He said he would be happy to send me another disk but the problem was probably my DVD player. He suggested I try it in a different player. I did and it worked fine except it locked up on the last track (Jimi's Hey Joe). I emailed him again and he sent me another disk on his dime, even though it is very likely an issue with my player also.

So to summarize this already too long post, I have to say I'm really happy with the DVD and, like you, will be ordering more.

Regards,

Bob

[jonah]

So what do YOU want to see when you buy an instructional video/DVD? Specifically when you buy one with an artist you're into. A method video to me is like buying a method book - it's a lesson and you're trying to learn something specific like jazz soloing or slide guitar. But an artist product is very different as it can go in many directions. I've seen a lot of what's out there and they do vary greatly in value.

So again, if you're buying a video of an artist you admire, what do you want/expect to see that would make you feel you've made a worthwhile purchase? Also, concerning DVD specifically, what in the area of special features would be beneficial to you or just cool to see? Are there are any DVDs you've seen so far that have special features you thought enhanced the product?

[ctoddrun]

Originally posted by telesan I also purchased David Bodhi's "Totally Grasp Harmony" dvd from ebay. Well worth $30 (incl shipping). It runs a little under 4 hours in length on 2 dvds. It uses both standard notation and guitar neck tab. David says that it will take a motivated student over a year to work through the exercises...and I believe him.

 

 

 

This is the same DVD that I referenced earlier (page three of this thread).

 

It really did open my eyes to how much I DONT know.

 

As a result, I enrolled in music courses at a local community college.

 

I had to start at the fundamental level, which means reading music and learning lots of things that I wont necessarily be able to apply to the guitar, but regardless, I'm glad I am learning it.

 

My class is just now getting to the circle of fifths, so it seems like watching a movie, and after the first 30 minutes the plot thickens...

 

I'm looking forward to each nights class.

[C.Ketola]

+1 - sticky this thread!

Ross Bolton - Funk Rhythm Guitar

5 out of 5 - really good if you want to learn how to play funky. Ross covers a variety of comping/solo techniques, Major/minor chord progressions, equipment, etc.

After seeing it just twice, I can make anything sound funky. I recomend it.

[alphonso]

I have Metal Method not going to knock it, but trying to keep up with the video with the booklet gets confusing.
I am currently looking @ Play Pro & guitar magic.Anybody have any user review on these products?I believe computer based instruction works best for me(outside private instruction).
any info would be appreciated

[Dr. Jimmy]

Bump, lets make this one a sticky huh?

[UFOScorpion]

Posted on the Castle of Shred Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/castle_of_shred/

This is a review of the DVD Curt Mitchell

[surge]

Originally posted by BlueMach1 Who has used Doug Marks "Metal Method"? It has been around for a while. Does it stand the test of time? (of course assuming it was any good to begin with) Metal Method Thanks -

I received it last week, so far, it's very good. I have been playing for about 2 years, here's my take on it so far. Level 1 took me about 2 days to complete (because of my previous experience). It covered the basics (i.e power chords, minor pentatonic scale, barre chords, and a couple of licks). I'm starting level two right now. For now, I'm working on the hammer-ons, pulls, trills. Getting ready to start the Octave lesson, then on to the 5 positions of the Pentatonic scale. Love the DVD format (get those), easy to skip lesson, with menu. Also like that it comes with tab booklets to accompany the lessons, so you can watch how he does it on TV, press pause, and play out of the booklet. Contrary to the title, it doesn't only include metal instruction, it's more rock, classic rock oriented wich is great.

He also gives good advice on equipment, how to maintain your guitar, etc.. Phew what else?! Oh yeah, he gives you motivation tips throughout the lessons, wich are really wise, and nice, especially if your learning by yourself. Just to note that the equipement tips, motivation speeches spans the entire series, so you wont get them all in lesson 1 for example. Well, that's about it of the top of my head. Feel free to ask more questions.

[PowerTube]

Star Licks - Michael Angelo - 4 out of 5 stars. Yes, it's cheesy, with the Double Axe and some of the "rock star wannabee" trappings, but it's also really good for building technique. His tone on the "live" clips sounds really horrible, but the studio tone while instructing is excellent. Overall, it looks really dated now.

 

He gives a great tutorial on alternate picking, practicing slowly, exercises, etc.....

[UFOScorpion]

One tape I found to be a dissappointment, was the Guitar Grimoire "Progressions and Improvisation".
The production values are so bad, he literally handles the graphics with a felt tip pen and piece of paper. No On-Sreen Graphics - just write out the progression while the cameral tries to get close enough to read it. Also, he tabs out (or ...writes out) NONE of the solos he plays. Not one. He says, It's better to work it out yourself. Then why do we need the tape?
He talks down to the viewer, and sometimes ends his playing by saying "That's enough of that - you get the picture."
The player - I don't know if it's Adam Kadmon, whose name is on the tape, or someone else - is very good. He gets a monster tone from a PRS and plays the scales and solos with authority. I just feel like he didn't know how to put it on tape in a good manner.